The present disclosure is related to presenting games on gaming machines such as reel-type slot machines, video poker machines, etc.
Various presentation techniques for gaming machines have been previously described. For example, contemporary mechanical reel-type slot machines include three-dimensional spinning reels that can be viewed by a player. Also, contemporary video gaming machines (e.g., video reel-type slots, video poker, video blackjack, video keno, video bingo, etc.) include display devices that generate two-dimensional images such as visual representations of spinning reels, cards, symbols, characters, etc. that appear in primary games, secondary games, help screens, attract modes, etc.
Additionally, some video gaming machines generate two-dimensional images that appear to be three-dimensional. These video gaming machines may employ shading, highlighting, and perspective techniques to cause a person to perceive depth in a two-dimensional image.
Some gaming machines have employed beam splitters and/or mirrors to generate three-dimensional representations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,685 to Kotani et al. describes a game machine in which an image of eyes and a mouth generated by a cathode ray tube is superimposed on an image of a three-dimensional object in the shape of a human face. The image of the human face is reflected off a large semitransparent mirror such that it can be viewed by a player. The image of the eyes and mouth are projected onto a large screen behind the semitransparent mirror. The image of the eyes and mouth on the screen may be seen by the player through the semitransparent mirror such that the eyes and mouth appear superimposed on the image of the human face as seen by the player. A projector housing includes the screen and a cathode ray tube that projects the image of the eyes and mouth onto the screen. The projector housing can be moved such that the eyes and mouth appear to be behind or in front of the image of the human face as seen by the player.